The 19th annual South African Society for Microbiology (SASM) conference, co-hosted by Durban University of Technology’s Faculty of Applied Sciences, ended at the Umhlanga Coastlands Hotel today, Wednesday, 20 January 2016. The conference saw leading international and South African microbiologists, delegates and students gathering under the theme, “Green Living through Science and Technology”- to discuss the evolving energy trends.

According to Professor Suren Singh, Executive Dean in the Faculty of Applied Sciences at DUT and Chairperson of the conference organising committee; “the conference fully captures what industry currently needs to do in the face of evolving energy trends worldwide and to overcome the technical challenges facing the industry at present. “It also clearly highlights the importance of technological innovation and cooperation between academia and industry at a national and international level. SASM has always provided a unique setting for combining science and socialising and we are also confident that this event will truly be a fruitful and memorable experience for everyone,” he said.

With industries looking at ways to produce renewable energy sources, the conference focuses on second generation biofuels that can be manufactured from various types of organic carbon sources (biomass) which are mainly obtainable from plant materials. First generation biofuels are made from the sugars and vegetable oils found in arable crops, which can be easily extracted using conventional technology and giving more insight into the debate about biofuel farmlands putting at risk crops which have traditionally been used as food sources was Prof Ashok Pandey, Deputy Director of the CSIR’s National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum.

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He spoke about the production of second-generation biofuels from renewable alternative feedstocks. “India has its first pilot plant for bioethanol and has vast experience and expertise in biomass hydrolyzing enzymes, pretreatment technologies as well as extensive network of collaboration with leading biofuel refineries in India and abroad. However, the challenges we face are related to infrastructure, collection, storage, variability and sustainability. One of our short term goals is to bring down the cost input of alcohol production and in terms of long term goals, we aspire to be more cost effective and have efficient technology packaging for biomass to ethanol conversion. Also, we are the first pilot plant in India for bioethanol with flexibility to use different biomass types,” he said.
Prof Pandey also added that they hoped to establish a partnership and further their relationship with South Africa in terms of networking and sharing ideas with regards to biofuel.

Speaking today, Wednesday, 20 January 2016, is Prof Fengyan Bai-Professor in Microbiology at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He will speak about the origin and domestication of lager beer yeast.
Pictured: Prof Ashok Pandey, Deputy Director of the CSIR’s National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum,speaking about the production of second-generation biofuels from renewable alternative feedstocks.

Pictured: Delegates networking at the SASM conference.

—-Waheeda Peters